Best Friend, Worst Enemy

by Menon, David

  ‘I expect it’s too early for you to say if there’s anything missing?’ Joe asked.

  ‘I’m afraid so’ said Jacob, scratching the back of his head. ‘It’s almost laughable but the place doesn’t look too different from how it normally does. My secretary Hazel is always telling me off about all the piles of papers scattered about all over the place in no apparent order. I’m afraid that tidiness isn’t a virtue with which I’ve been blessed’.

  ‘You say you discovered the break in when you arrived for work this morning, Jacob?’ said Sara. They’d already established first name terms during the introductions.

  ‘Yes’ said Jacob. ‘I discovered the bodies of the two security guards too. I often come in early. I’m fair game for these bastards to have a pop at but the student and these two security guys were nothing to do with it. They really have gone beyond the pale’.

  ‘Well obviously they’re now part of our investigations, Jacob’ said Sara.

  ‘I’m angry, Sara’.

  ‘I can see that’ said Sara. ‘And we’ll do our best to find whoever was responsible, believe me. But look, you’ve drawn up a long list of people who might want to kill you and my team will be going through it. Doesn’t it make you feel just a little uncomfortable being able to draw up a list as long as that?’

  ‘Sara, when you have views like mine you make enemies everywhere. I’m a Jew, and a fairly prominent one at that, who’s dared to criticize Israel and its treatment of the Palestinians. That makes me public enemy number one for many of my fellow Jews some of whom have even accused me of being anti-Semitic. There are websites devoted to criticising me and everything I say. When I go down to visit my parents in North London where I grew up, some of their friends, who I’ve known since I was a kid, won’t speak to me. Even one of my brothers thinks I’m a traitor but of course, being family and being Jewish, he tells me he hates me and then tells me he loves me straight after!’

  ‘What is it that you criticize exactly that offends them so, Jacob?’ she asked.

  ‘I criticize Israel’s illegal occupation of land that doesn’t belong to it and the populating of that land with Jews. Where are those Palestinians supposed to go? Have we as Jews learned nothing from our history to know that you can’t do that to people? You can’t just purge a whole country of one ethnic group. But the pro-settlement camp thinks that it’s okay to expand Israel at whatever cost to others because of something God is supposed to have said three thousand years ago and that’s backed up by an American mindset that refuses to acknowledge any wrong in whatever Israel does’.

  ‘Why do you think that is?’ Sara asked.

  ‘Well the main reason is that Israel has been very clever at dressing up its actions against the Palestinians as part of the wider war against Islamic terrorism’ Jacob explained. ‘And that fits nicely with the psyche of the American people. So they’re blind to blatant Israeli expansionism and they seem to care even less than Israelis do about the Palestinians’.

  ‘Well Jacob, you do argue a well thought out case’ said Joe who really wasn’t in the mood for all this political talk. As far as he was concerned Israel was a country that was defending itself against enemies that surrounded it. ‘But we’re here in terms of your personal security. You say you didn’t recognize the man who tried to shoot you?’

  ‘Not at all, no, Joe’ said Jacob. ‘But of course I did only get a brief glimpse of him’.

  ‘Well we know there were two of them’.

  ‘And I didn’t recognise the other one either I’m afraid’.

  ‘Okay’ said Sara. ‘We will. In the meantime we’ll be providing you with round the clock protection but please don’t abuse that. My colleagues take their jobs very seriously’.

  ‘I wouldn’t dream of abusing it, Sara’ said Jacob with a glint in his eye.

  ‘And we’ll need to know about all your movements from now on’ said Joe. ‘And I do mean all your movements’.

  ‘That’s easy’ said Jacob. ‘My secretary has all the details and I’ll lay my diary open to you’.

  ‘You’ll still need to be careful though, Jacob’ said Joe. ‘I mean, have you thought about going into hiding temporarily?’

  Jacob laughed. ‘I’m sorry, Joe. But going into hiding is just not an option’.

  ‘Jacob, someone has tried to kill you and your office has been ransacked’ Sara reminded him. ‘Three others have been caught in the crossfire. Are you sure you’re taking the obvious risk to your personal safety seriously?’

  ‘I am, Sara, I am’ said Jacob. ‘But I’m not hiding or running. That’s the day the terrorist wins’.

  When the interview was over, Jacob walked Sara and Joe out to their car which was parked just outside the main administration building of the university and within its perimeter. Joe shook hands with Jacob before getting into the drivers’ side.

  ‘Your own personal chauffeur’ said Jacob. ‘I’m impressed’.

  ‘We take it in turns to drive, Jacob’ Sara explained. ‘I’m not that kind of boss’.

  ‘No’ said Jacob who put his hands in his pockets like little boys do when they want to get cute and ask for something. ‘Look Sara, are you allowed to go out with someone who someone out there wants to see dead?’

  ‘Don’t put it like that’.

  ‘You mean you care about what happens to me more than just as a police officer?’

  ‘Well … ‘

  ‘ … I promise you I’m single, I’m not married, I don’t have any ex wives or kids floating about, I’m a free agent. Oh and I only sleep with a girl on a first date if she gets down on her knees and begs me’

  Sara laughed. She felt a twitch in that womanly place where men liked to entertain her - although few were successful.

  ‘And there’s something between us, Sara. Can’t you sense it?’

  ‘Yes and I’d love to go out with you, Jacob. But perhaps we should wait until the investigation is over?’

  ‘Then I sincerely hope it’s over very quickly’.

  ‘Me too’ said Sara. ‘Had you ever thought that someone might make an attempt on your life?’

  ‘Yes’ said Jacob. ‘For all the reasons I spoke about before. But I’d never have known it would bring me into contact with a nice girl with the Jewish name of Sara’.

  Sara felt her body temperature soar like she’d been thrown onto a fire. She liked this man. She liked what he was doing to her. She wrote her personal mobile number down on the back of one of her business cards and handed it to him.

  ‘Leave it a few days to see how much progress we’ve made and then call me’.

  ‘Okay’ said Jacob. ‘I’m going down to my parents’ house in London for a few days anyway. My mother is fussing like anything after what happened as I’m sure you can imagine’.

  ‘And understand’.

  ‘I know. So anyway I won’t be free until next week’.

  Sara smiled. ‘Next week sounds … good. It sounds very … good’.

  THREE

  DI Tim Norris sat down in the interview room with Yitzhak Goldstein.

  ‘I suppose the chief constable wasn’t available?’ Goldstein remarked, half serious, half joking. He would’ve talked to the chief constable of Greater Manchester if the chief constable had been willing to meet him. That would’ve impressed Hettie.

  ‘No, Mr. Goldstein’ said Tim as he sat across the table from him. ‘So I’m afraid you’ll have to do with me. Now what can I do for you?’

  ‘What you should’ve done several weeks ago’.

  ‘I’m sorry I’m not with you?’

  ‘I reported that the front doors of six houses along my avenue in Prestwich had been daubed with a swastika and the words ‘DEATH TO ALL JEWS’ in black paint. What are we supposed to do? My community is under siege. Our women are all terrified in their own homes. The rise of the fourth Reich has begun, Detective Norris, and just like before nobody is lifting a finger to help us’.

  ‘It sounds to me like these are i
solated attacks, Mr. Goldstein’ said Tim. ‘I don’t think we can say at this point that they’re part of some concerted campaign’.

  ‘Easy for you to say when your women aren’t hiding under the stairs screaming!’

  Tim looked at Goldstein who was sitting there in his long black coat, black trousers, white buttoned up shirt and large rimmed black hat. He was an old man, probably well into his seventies and he spoke in a slightly hysterical tone with a strong East European accent. He’d probably been in Manchester for half a century but you’d never be able to tell.

  ‘Mr. Goldstein, I understand your concerns ...’

  ‘... no you don’t! I’m Jewish and we are the last people that anybody tries to understand, especially the apparatus of the great British establishment. And I include the police in that’.

  ‘Mr. Goldstein, I can assure you we take all complaints from all parts of the community equally as seriously’.

  ‘No, you don’t, I don’t accept that, I don’t accept it at all. We’ve reported the incidents I’ve told you about and nothing has happened, absolutely nothing’.

  ‘Mr. Goldstein, I’ll take down the details of all the incidents and make sure they’re thoroughly investigated. Now, can we do that?’

  Goldstein sniffed dismissively. ‘I’m sure you’re a good man personally, detective, and that you mean what you say. I will do as you suggest. I suppose it’s better than nothing’.

  *

  The Zodiac bar sat at the top end of Manchester’s Deansgate in a building that used to house a regional insurance company before it was swallowed up by one of the larger national boys. As she waited outside for her sister-in-law Rachel to turn up, Sara read some more of Jacob Abrahams’ latest book which she’d downloaded onto her kindle as soon as she’d come back from interviewing him.

  ‘I want to change the definition of the word terrorism before we look for answers to all the stupid acts of mass murder. The attack on the twin towers in New York in 2001 was barbaric in its single act of wanton destruction and carnage. But if its purpose was to bring America to the negotiating table then it couldn’t have been a worse move. America under the neo-conservative administration of George W Bush would never allow itself to be murdered into talking. The then National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice strutted round the world in her high heels and expensive couture lecturing various groups in her self-righteous shrill voice that they had to stop the terror before the United States would listen to their grievances that, in some cases, went back generations. A fair and valid point, you might think. Why should the civilized world negotiate with evil men and women who are prepared to go on a spree of mass killing to make their point? But when the United States ordered the carpet bombing of Cambodia back in the seventies that led to the deaths of thousands of people, what was that if it wasn’t terrorism? When Soviet tanks denied the will of the people of Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968, what was that if it wasn’t terrorism? When the United States organised a coup in Chile in 1973 because it didn’t like the fact that the people had elected the left-wing Allende government leading to the dictatorship of General Pinochet and the deaths of thousands of Chileans, what was that if it wasn’t terrorism? But what did it matter? Pinochet was Washington’s man. Whilst the US preached democracy to the world it only allowed that democracy to flourish if it went their way. It was happy to support oppressive right-wing regimes like that of General Pinochet because he would do as Washington said and Washington couldn’t have cared less about the will of the people or how people suffer under regimes like that of Pinochet. And when Israel assassinates leading Palestinian politicians using drone technology, what is that if it’s not terrorism? A terrorist act is a terrorist act whether it’s been perpetrated by a group that’s been labelled a terrorist organisation or by a democratic government that is supposed to be legitimate. Democratic nations that commit war crimes in other countries are no better than the terrorists they claim to oppose. It still leads to the killing of thousands of innocent people in an atmosphere of absolute terror …’

  When Rachel turned up she immediately complimented Sara on her outfit. She was wearing a light brown suede Chanel style two-piece and a frilly white shirt, causing Rachel to tease that if her breasts were twice the size and her hair wasn’t natural blond she’d look like Dolly Parton. They started on a bottle of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and found a table deep inside the bar where it was fairly secluded and they could talk.

  ‘So tell me more about the professor then?’ asked Rachel who was married to Sara’s brother Neil. ‘Come on, I want the lot’.

  Sara blushed. ‘Well he’s tall, handsome, the kind of bloke who fits his early forties really well, he’s got this slight gap in his front teeth and I’ve been having dreams about him since we met’.

  ‘Oh my God, she’s fallen!’

  ‘Well I wouldn’t go quite that far, I mean we haven’t actually had a date yet’.

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Because he’s at the centre of an investigation’ Sara explained. ‘Somebody has tried to kill him and succeeded in killing three innocent people in the process. We’ve got zilch in the way of leads. If Superintendent Hargreaves found out I was actually seeing Jacob I don’t think he’d see it as being appropriate’.

  ‘Then make sure he doesn’t find out’.

  ‘Rachel!’

  ‘Oh come on, I haven’t seen you like this about a man for ages’ said Rachel. ‘I say you’ve got to go for it. And he’s Jewish so he’ll be cut down there’

  ‘Really? That thought never crossed my mind’.

  ‘Liar! I’ve always preferred them cut. It feels so much better when it goes in’.

  Sara went bright red. ‘I can’t believe you just said that’.

  ‘Oh my God, Sara, you’ve got it bad’.

  ‘Well I have got a feeling about this one and I hope I’m right because I’ve been so fed up lately’.

  ‘You?’

  ‘Yes, me, it can happen’ said Sara as she wiped some dust from her skirt with her fingers.

  ‘But you’re the one who blazes the trail for the sisterhood’ said Rachel. ‘You’re the one we’re all supposed to emulate’.

  ‘Is that why you married my brother when you were only twenty-four and didn’t have an established career?’

  ‘Ouch! Listen, love, I married your brother because he was the best looking of the Hoyland brothers and I didn’t want to risk him getting away’.

  ‘Oh, now out of loyalty to our Martin and our Gordon, I’ve got to disagree with you there’ said Sara.

  ‘Have you?’

  Sara laughed. ‘Well alright, Neil is the best looking’ she said. She’d always got on best with Neil out of all her three brothers.

  ‘So why were you fed up?’ Rachel asked.

  ‘I just don’t feel like I’m getting anywhere in life, Rachel’

  ‘What? You were the youngest female DCI in the Greater Manchester force. I’d say that was getting somewhere’.

  ‘I can’t take it to bed at night though, can I?’ said Sara who hadn’t been with a man for several months now. The path through the wilderness of celibacy was new for her but she just hadn’t wanted to keep up the whole going out and pulling some man game. She was bored with it. She’d taken to drinking alone in her flat and watching daft American romantic comedies on DVD that usually featured Jennifer Anniston or even worse, Jennifer Lopez. Talentless wasn’t the word for either of them. Her girl friends were all worried about her.

  ‘So you were randy but there was no man around’.

  ‘Rachel, you make me out to be some kind of ... tart’

  ‘Well you have been in your time and by your own admission you’ve enjoyed it’.

  ‘I don’t deny that’ said Sara, defensively. ‘I’ve just reached the stage where I want more from life’.

  ‘It sounds to me like life has been clearing the way lately for the good professor to slide into the empty space and sweep you off your feet’.


  ‘You could be right there’ Sara conceded. ‘Look, I’m not turning into some pathetic whiny girly, am I?’

  ‘No’ said Rachel. ‘I’d give you a good slap if you were. I just want you to let this Jacob treat you like a woman. Don’t go all feminist flag waver on him’.

  ‘Rachel, I’m not on some crusade. I’ve never been like that’.

  ‘But be honest, you’ve always wanted to be the one in control of your relationships. You’ve always wanted to wear those trousers’.

  ‘Rachel, I just want a man who won’t put me down and who will take my career as seriously as he takes his. And I’ve just never left that to chance’.

  ‘Well I can’t imagine the professor with his views and his reputation would want to be with a girl instead of a woman so maybe your moment has come’.

  ‘Well like I said, I hope so’.

  ‘Well I think you will’ said Rachel. ‘But don’t come across as desperate or else you’ll scare him off’.

  ‘I know’ said Sara. ‘I’ll be careful. Don’t you worry’.

  ‘Just let it happen’ said Rachel. ‘Don’t try and control it’.

  Once they’d polished off the second bottle of New Zealand white it was time to make moves to go home. They went outside and caught one of the free metro shuttle buses that route around the city centre connecting all the relevant and useful points. They got off at Piccadilly station where Sara could walk back to her apartment a couple of minutes away and Rachel could catch the last train home to Marple, the small Peak district town nestled in the hills on the border of Greater Manchester and Derbyshire.

  A row of shops and takeaway food places lined the uphill approach to the station and they were taken in by the aroma of frying onions and the sizzle of burgers on a griddle stove. They both ordered cheeseburgers with extra onions and chips.